Washington Post columnist Max Boot believes that President Donald Trump wants a “War on Thanksgiving” for very sinister reasons.

During his Florida rally Tuesday, Trump announced that “some people” don’t want to say “Thanksgiving” anymore. It was a claim that was news to progressives on Twitter, joking that no one told them. A liberal Twitter account mocked the claim with the hashtag #WhatLiberalsCallThanksgiving, to which many replied: “Thanksgiving.”

The false rumor seems to have been invented by conservative YouTube personalities Diamond and Silk, who announced the War on Thanksgiving on Fox News. It was remarkably similar to the invention of the War on Christmas by former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who brought the idea to the masses on a slow news night in 2004.

As Boot noted, however, famous anti-Semite Henry Ford was the first one who complained that “some people” couldn’t find Merry Christmas cards. Instead of urging “some people” to try buying them earlier in the season, Ford decided it was a Jewish conspiracy.

“Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone’s Birth,” wrote Ford in 1921.

In 2000, Peter Brimelow, the founder of a “racist, anti-immigrant” website, according to the Anti-Defamation League, announced “the War Against Christmas … part of the struggle to abolish America.”

While conservatives, anti-Semites and racists were behind the so-called wars, liberals ultimately end up being blamed.

“On one level, this is simply absurd: This is like a politician defending ‘motherhood and apple pie’ while congratulating himself on his political courage,” wrote Boot in his Wednesday column. “No one is trying to prohibit anyone from saying ‘Merry Christmas’; the more inclusive ‘Happy Holidays’ has simply gained more social favor in recent years because of the awareness that lots of Americans might be celebrating not Christmas but Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or even Festivus. Late-night comedians have had a ball with Trump’s phony war on Christmas — and for good cause. But beneath the silliness, there is a more serious and sinister aspect to this whole concocted controversy.”

Boot said he’s never seen a department store displaying the symbol of the United Nations instead of a Christmas tree, but God forbid a progressive is polite enough to acknowledge there is more than one holiday to celebrate in December. Given its roots, it was only a matter of time before Trump proudly picked up the banner and helped stir up conservative rage during a season of peace and love.

“Trump’s white evangelical followers — the core of his base — are terrified that they are fast losing power in a country they once dominated,” Boot continued. “Hence their fanatical support for Trump as “the chosen one” and their disparagement of his critics as ‘demonic.’ A skilled demagogue, Trump unerringly taps into their anxiety with his risible claims about a war on Christmas and now a war on Thanksgiving.”

“For my part,” he closed, “I would be thankful this holiday season to be free of these cynical attempts to politicize celebrations that should unite, rather than divide, Americans. Let me enjoy my turkey in peace. Happy holidays!”

Read the full write-up at The Washington Post.

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